Cath and Levi
by AlineaDenise
Summary: Summer break means that Cath is in Omaha and Levi is in Arnold. They're not overly fond of the distance.
1. Chapter 1

Cath speed-read _The Eighth Dance_ while simultaneously cuddling with Levi. It was like _The Outsiders_ all over again, expect it packed way more of an emotional punch and sometimes Cath had to read through her tears. She could have sworn she head Levi get choked up at some parts too. They had to finish it before they parted ways for the summer, they _just had to_. Cath was totally up to the challenge- it was Simon Snow, for God's sake! Levi was unpredictable though.

Sure enough, Levi spoke up as soon as Cath finished a chapter and was about to move onto the next. "Sweetheart, can we take a break?" He pleaded. His voice was sleepy and adorable. Truth be told, Cath's voice was getting rough from reading out loud for so long and she really did want to take a break. If Levi wasn't going back to Arnold in four days, she would have gladly taken one. Unfortunately, the clock was ticking down the few precious moments they had left together before the break started.

Before Cath could say anything, Levi nuzzled into the crook of her neck affectionately. It was also pretty distracting. "Fine," Cath finally caved in, removing a tissue from the nearby box and using it to mark the spot where she had left off, "We'll take a break. Not too long, alright?" Cath set the book down next to her, the side that wasn't occupied by Levi. It soon became obvious to her that he was making no effort whatsoever to sit up by himself. All of his weight was on her body. She almost fell over a few times, and then she did.

The two fell onto Cath's bed, giggling. Cath pulled the book out from under her. "You suck so much," She told Levi jokingly. He only grinned and kissed her forehead. He then hoisted himself up by placing a hand on the headboard and then offered the same hand to Cath. She accepted, hardly able to breathe due to laughter. Levi pulled her upright, then kissed her lips.

"I'm going to miss you so much Cather," He whispered, his lips hovering over her own before he kissed her again. And again. Cath smiled into it just as Levi pulled away, which was a little frustrating. She looked at him, confused. He stared down at his lap, "You should come visit me in Arnold as much as possible."

Cath then realized she had missed her opportunity to tell Levi that she would miss him as well, but she pretended like she didn't because saying it now would be weird, the conversation having already moved on and all. "I don't know how often I could get out there, but I'd do anything to get a chance to see you this summer," She responded.

Levi beamed, "You can stay at my ranch and I can show you around town and you can meet me crazy family- it'll be great!" His smiled faded suddenly, "I hope they don't scare you off- I'm sure you've heard that they're a little intense, right?" Cath nodded, she did not seem phased at all. Levi just looked at her expectantly, hoping an explanation came with that nod.

It did. "Hey," Cath said, "You're talking to the daughter of the creator of cheese Gravioli. I am three hundred per cent used to crazy. It's normal for me. Not to mention the fact that I have a twin sister who looks exactly like me and a mom who ran out on Wren and I when we were eight." Levi laughed the very second Reagan barged into the room.

"Is it weird how okay I am with this?" She asked no one in particular, "My ex-boyfriend and my roommate...together. It's been months, you'd think some sort of jealousy would have surfaced by now if there was any...but I feel nothing." She scrunched up her face like was legitimately trying to find an answer. She couldn't think of anything, so she went to packing text books and clothes into a stupidly huge suitcase.

"We don't leave until Saturday, Reagan. By the looks of it, you're planning on heading out tonight without me," Levi joked. He turned to Cath, "You know...that might not be so bad, I'd get to stay here with you."

Reagan turned to the two on the bed, arms crossed over her chest, "Okay, first of all _ew_. You two may not be kissing nor having sex or whatever...but you're being all mushy and couple-y which is basically PDA, so you're breaking the ground rules we established. And second, Cath is leaving too. She has to go back to Omaha with Wren."

Levi sighed sadly and got up out of bed. He started to help Reagan pack up her things. Cath felt so secure in her relationship with him that it didn't even bother her, seeing him with his ex-girlfriend. He was just being friendly, he wasn't trying to come onto her. Besides, it was Cath he wanted to see over the summer, not her. Well, he _would_ see Reagan over the summer, but only because they lived in the same town, but that was beside the point.

"I'm trying to be efficient, by the way," Reagan told Levi in regards to her early packing, "I'm packing a little bit everyday to make it all less daunting." While the two packed, Cath sneaked her laptop on the bed and opened it. She logged onto her FanFixx account and scrolled through pages of new comments. A few people knew that Cath wanted to finished _Carry On, Simon_ before the _Eighth Dance_, so they were wondering what happened._ Life_, Cath thought, _life happened_. She had Reagan and Levi completey tuned out at this point.

It didn't seem like she and Levi were going to be getting back to the book again tonight. Cath ignored the comments on the website out of laziness and decided to keep writing the fic itself. That came much easier to her than communicating with people she didn't know. Not even five hundred words later, a pillow was thrown at her face, making her glasses slid down the bridge of her nose and unhook from behind her left ear. This certainly brought Cath back to reality.

"I'm talking to you," Reagan barked at her. Cath looked at her with wide eyes, startled. Reagan rolled her eyes and repeated herself for the third time, "Is your little entourage of fans pissed at you for not finishing your creepy fanfiction before the last book came out?"

Levi looked indignant. "It is not creepy, it's amazing..." Cath smiled gratefully at her boyfriend. Her nodded in recognition. Cath felt her cheeks get hot. She couldn't even imagine how red they were just about now.

"Some of them are upset, yeah," Cath revealed, "Some don't even seem to care at all, which is nice. I was so worried about a stupid imaginary deadline for so long. You know, I'm glad I didn't follow through with it. I actually have a life outside of the internet for the first time in my life!"

"Hooray for you," Reagan quipped sarcastically, throwing her last shirt into her suitcase like it was a bomb she was trying to rid herself of before it exploded. Levi stepped away from Reagan's packing area and sat on the end of Cath's bed. He brought her legs up on top of his lap.

"PDA," Reagan shrieked in annoyance, "PDA!" With that, she stormed out of the room. Cath and Levi were alone again. It was just them and Simon and Baz. Cath's hands hovered over her keyboard, not sure what to type next, or if she should type at all. Maybe they should go back to reading _The Eighth Dance_? Maybe they should just talk? Cath didn't know what to do, so she did nothing.

Levi reached over to her and fixed her glasses, "I'm really tempted to take them off- you know how I feel about Cath sans glasses, but I'll leave them on because you're writing," He promised. Cath still didn't know what to do. She just sat there while Levi fixed her glasses on her face like she was a small child who couldn't dress herself. She still didn't know what to do with herself. She was hoping Levi would decide. Words weren't coming to her at the moment and she didn't know why. Writing her fic would have to wait even longer. She was all of a sudden far too sad to type another word.

"I don't want to be without you," Cath said in a small voice, feeling stupid.

Levi caressed her cheek, "You don't have to be, it's like I said, you're going to visit me in Arnold. And Reagan will be there too, of course. You'll love it."

Cath barely met his gaze, "But I can't be with you whenever I want to, like I can here. In fact, I'll be spending more of my summer away from you and less of it with you..."

"Damn those four and a half hours of distance," Levi growled.

Cath's face brightened when she heard how much effort Levi had put into trying to get Cath to come out and visit. "You looked up how far away our homes are from eachother?"

"Yes," Levi assured, "Give or take four hours. But then of course, you have to take the possibility of traffic into consideration, though I doubt there'd be too many people trying to get into Arnold...it's not exactly a vacation destination."

"It's good enough for me," Cath smiled.

For the rest of the night, Cath wrote and rewrote one of the penultimate scenes of her fic while Levi had cuddled up next to her and read what she typed. Either that or he just stared at the screen, though Cath liked to think that his reading skills were improving. When Cath had to pull her hands away to give her fingers and wrists a rest, Levi handed her the Simon Snow book.

She took it hesitantly and cleared her throat. Levi translated this as meaning _'my throat hurts, I need water_,_'_ so he leapt up from his spot and went to get her a glass of water. He was a spot-on interpreter of body language. When he returned, Cath's laptop had returned to her desk and her lap was free. Levi took this as an invitation to _really_ get close to her. She wasn't going to complain. Levi handed the water to Cath, she drank some from it, thanked him, set the glass down on her bedside table, then started to read. Tissues were on standby.


	2. Chapter 2

"You haven't finished _Carry On_ yet, have you?" Wren asked, poking her head into Cath's dorm. Only her sister was in the room. Reagan was probably out with some guy. Levi was probably doing something with his numerous roommates before break started. When Wren saw that the coast was clear and there were no roommates or boyfriends present, she sat down across from Cath on Reagan's bed. "You would have told me if you finished the fic, right?"

Cath looked over at her twin, "I'm so close to finishing it, I can feel it. And of course I would tell you, Wren. I may be the one typing the story, but it's as much yours as it is mine." Wren grinned at her sister's word, but shook her head. Cath shrugged, "Okay, so maybe it's more like 75% mine and 25% yours."

"Have you and Levi finished The Eighth Dance yet? I'm so close to the ending...I don't want it to come, but I just can't stop reading," Wren said, falling back on the unmade bed. Reagan rarely made her bed. Cath wasn't one to make hers either, neither was Wren. Levi made his bed, though. It was probably because he had nothing else to do in his room. When going downstairs means climbing down numerous amounts of stairs, you have to just learn to be content with what's available to you for entertainment. Cath shook her head, realizing that she had let her mind drift away from her and Wren's conversation.

"Levi and I are five chapters away from the end," Cath explained, her fingers starting to type madly at the keyboard on her lap again. Talking about one thing and typing another was becoming second nature to her. "I want to just power through it before we have to leave for home, but we usually just end up putting the book away after a few pages and cuddling." Cath felt weird telling Wren what she and her boyfriend did when they were alone. She could hear Reagan in her head shouting, 'ground rules! Ground rules!"

The two sat in silence for a long time, Wren making grossed-out faces unbeknownst to Cath, who's full attention was now on the words she was typing. Something big was about to happen, but then again, something big had been happening for quite some time now. That's what happened when a wildly popular fanfic drew to a close. Cath had decided not to give herself anymore deadlines- well, expect for the one about her and Levi finishing the last _Simon Snow_ book. She would finish _Carry On, Simon_ when it seemed right. She decided not to rush it.

"I can't believe freshman year is almost over..." Wren muttered, sitting up and hoping to get her sister's attention again. She did, but only just. Cath only nodded half-heartedly. She was still very into the scene she was writing. Simon was facing off with a classmate at Watford. Wren laughed, "Dad will be happy to know that we're all in one piece!"

Cath paused, "You barely did, Miss Alcohol Poisoning," She said in a tone much harsher than she meant. Wren came across as offended. She got all scowly and scrunched up her face. Her arms crossed over her chest and she looked like she was trying to fold in on herself, "Hey! I've been doing much better lately! I've been talking to a therapist since..._the incident_, which I don't want to talk about anymore, thank you."

"I'm proud of you, Wren," Cath said, finally setting her laptop aside. She was now giving Wren her full attention, letting her know that she was being serious and not just saying something to cheer her sister up. She also thought it was imperative that Wren know that Cath wasn't trying to be snarky and mean, "You really turned yourself around. Dad's impressed too, I'm sure of it. And Jandro definitely is. Even Regan and Levi are happy for you- and they barely know you."

Wren blushed, "I've been feeling really good."

"Yeah, you look much better."

"Thank you."

"Did you hear about Dad's big idea for us this summer?" Wren questioned. Cath felt a lump start to for in her stomach. She had a feeling her plans with Levi were about to be compromised. "He wants us to close our eyes and point to a random state in the U.S., whichever one we land on, that's where we'll go," Wren continued.

Cath cocked her head, "So we'll go two places...one that you pick and one that I pick? Or would we be going to three places? Is Dad picking a place? How are we going to even afford all that stuff?" With a single parent who could only work so many hours in a day before he started going crazy and overboard with his ideas...and everything, money didn't come super easily to the Avery family. Nowadays, most of the income went to buying notebooks for him to write down his many ideas. This whole blindly choosing their vacation spot thing was obviously one of them. "I don't want to go anywhere. I want to go to Arnold...to be with Levi."

Wren came over to Cath's bed and rubbed her sister's shoulder comfortingly, "Aw, Cath, you're just going to have to accept that sometimes distance is a good thing. I want to see Jandro over the summer, but he's going abroad. We just have to deal with it. Think of all the fanfiction you could write while waiting for sophomore year to start."

Cath shrugged, "I don't know how much fanfiction I can write. I'll be done _Carry On_ really soon, and it will feel weird and wrong to write anything but that. I don't know if I can. I'd feel like I was betraying _Carry On_- and I can't do that."

"I'll help you," Wren offered, "We'll do it together like we used to- Magicath and Wrenegade at it again. Our fans will love it." There was a long silence before Wren stood up and stretched. "Well, speaking of Simon, I'm off to go finish _The Eighth Dance_. Cheer up, Cath."

"No Spoilers!" Cath called as her sister left the room. Wren gave her a small thumbs up before she disappeared into the hallway. Cath didn't know what to do, so she drowned her worries in writing. She cranked out pages and pages of Carry On. It felt good, but when she realized that she was only closer to finishing the fic, she burst into frustrated, angry tears. She was freaking out over finishing it, so she cheered herself up by writing it, thus bringing her closer to the end. It was an awful trap.

Reagan returned to the dorm room a few hours later when Cath had cried herself dry. She only lay on her bed helplessly and stared at the wall. Everything was coming to an end, changing. _Carry On_ was ending, The _Simon Snow_ series was ending, freshman year was ending, and her time with Levi was temporarily ending. It wasn't fair. She couldn't keep up.

"What's eating you?" Regan asked. It was a question that indicated caring, but she had responded in her typical, hostile way. Cath felt like she had asked out of some sort of roommate obligation that she thought existed, rather than genuine concern. However, she dragged herself to her feet and spoke with Reagan.

Cath picked a random hoodie and put it on over top of her _Carry On, Simon_ shirt. "There's just...a lot of changes happening so quickly. I'm not ready for them." She knew she couldn't go into detail about it without revealing that she was heartbroken over having to part ways with Levi for the summer- and that would go against the ground rules that Reagan loved so dearly. With the ground rules in place, she had no problems. Well, that wasn't exactly true. Cath and Levi broke them a lot, sometimes by accident, sometimes on purpose.

"Everything will get easier once you're settled into your own home, I swear," Reagan relayed, not really paying attention anymore. She was reading a text on her phone as she spoke. Cath guessed that Reagan was a talking/texting multi-tasker like Cath was a talking/typing multi-tasker. Reagan wasn't very good at juggling the two though. The conversation died down as soon as she picked up her phone.

The cell phone got set down after many minutes of texting. Cath sighed, but Reagan pretended that she didn't notice that she was boring her roommate. "You'll have a clearer head once you get back to Omaha, I know I did when I got back to Arnold after my first year. All your issues just seem less big and scary."

Cath highly doubted that being many miles away from her boyfriend was going to make her feel any sort of relief, but she knew it would be nice to be back home with her dad. Cath's mind wandered as Reagan returned to whoever it was she was texting. It was probably the stocky, buzz cut guy Cath had seen her with at lunch. Reagan took a few steps backward. "I've gotta go, Cath, see you," Reagan mumbled as she headed out the door. Cath frowned. Everyone kept leaving her. She was in serious danger of bursting into tears all over again.

She sat on her bed, figuring that she had better get used to being alone. She was about to face a lot of it for the next coming months. She wanted to visit Levi with all of her heart, but she honestly didn't know if she could pull it off. Her dad had crazy plans for their summer that might prevent her or her sister from doing anything that they wanted to do.

Apparently, tonight was not the night to start practicing being alone afterall. There were three short taps on the dorm window. Cath jumped, startled. She looked over to see Levi's smiling face on the other side of the pane. She couldn't help but smile back. His happiness was contagious. Cath ran to open the window for him and he climbed through, "Hey," He greeted, kissing her forehead.

"Hey," Cath repeated, "What are you doing here?"

Levi laughed, "I wanted to see you, believe it or not, Cath, I figured that was all the reason I needed to come over."

"You made quite the entrance."

"I try."

Both wordlessly sat on the Cath's bed. Levi picked up _The Eighth Dance_, "What do you say we finish this thing?" Cath looked at the shiny cover of the book in the boy's hands, then the boy himself, then back again, then back again. She was so torn. She didn't want _Simon _to be over, but she wanted to finish it with Levi- one, so he could hear it, two- so he could be there to comfort her during the heart-wrenching parts.

Cath decided to embrace the change that was coming at her so fast, so she decided that yes, she would finish _The Eighth Dance_ tonight with Levi. And that it would be great. It was nice to have someone care about literature, even though Levi had this weird thing about actually reading something himself.

They read the last few chapters and they both cried. The box of tissues was still nearby from their last _Simon_-inspired breakdown. Cath didn't know what to do- she curled up against Levi's body and hoped and prayed for a ninth book that would never come. Levi drew circles on her shoulder with his forefinger. "Nothing ever really has to end when you've got fanfiction on your side," He whispered.


	3. Chapter 3

Levi was right, there was always fanfiction, but just like actual books, fanfiction ended as well. Cath's fingers hovered over her keyboard as she struggled to finish _Carry On_. Since she and Levi had recently finished The Eighth Dance, she had the perfect ending in mind. She had kicked Levi out in order to write it. They hadn't fought and there wasn't any malice behind the kicking out of her boyfriend- it was just a 'in the zone' sort of thing.

Cath wrote through tears. There was a soft rapping at the door, "Cath?" It was Levi. He was still there. He hadn't left. "Are you alright, Cather?" Cath responded by throwing a pillow at the door. He went quiet for a while and Cath mistakenly thought that he had left. She settled back into her usual writing position. She was surprised she didn't have scoliosis from how many hours she spent hunched over her laptop. "I'm going to go get you something from Starbucks," Levi said suddenly, making Cath nearly jump out of her skin, "Then I'm going to come back and we're going to talk about this, okay?"

"I love you Levi, but can you please just go away?" Cath groaned.

Levi sounded shocked, "So...no Starbucks?"

"Just...do whatever."

"Okay then, back in fifteen."

Cath rolled her eyes. He was so nice- it kind of got on her nerves sometimes. Like right now for instance. But he was gone for now and she could hear his retreating footsteps so she figured it was safe to say that he was no longer waiting outside her door to be let in. She didn't feel like getting up to check. He was rather talkative, so he probably would have said something if he was still there.

Wren called only seconds after Levi had left. Cath hated all the interruptions; but she really did want to talk to her sister about all this Simon stuff. "Levi called me and told me you were in emotional turmoil," Wren said when Cath picked up the phone, "I'm on my way to your dorm right now. Don't you dare write another word of that fic! We'll talk about this when I get there!"

Cath sighed, "Why does everyone want to 'talk about this?' Is it the fic thing? Is it the crying thing? What is 'this?'"

Wren hung up without answering Cath's question. Cath groaned for what seemed like the thousandth time in ten minutes and waited for her sister to come back. She couldn't write her fic, so she did nothing at all. It's like Wren was holding her hostage or something. Cath got antsy really fast.

Luckily, Wren burst through the door a few minutes after the two had abruptly ended their phone call. "I thought you planned on finishing _Carry On_ after Levi left? So you could spend some time with him and not get distracted?" She cried without even saying hello or something.

Cath sighed, "I'm sorry...it's just that Levi and I finished _The Eighth Dance_ and I just got this lightning bolt of inspiration for the ending and...to be completely honest, I don't want it to end. I just know that it has to...so I might as well make it good while the idea is fresh in my mind, right?"

Wren sat on Reagan's bed. In the past week, it had been more Wren's bed than Reagan's. Wren sure had gotten more use of it than her roommate had. Reagan was always off with different boys. She pretty much had a different one for everyday of the week. "Cath, I know you want to hold onto Simon Snow as long as possible...and this is probably your way of coping with finishing the series...but I can't let you do it now. Wait for a few days, then Levi will be gone and we'll be home and you can write all you want. And I'll be there for you."

"I feel like a part of me died. It's like I lost a best friend," Cath murmured.

Wren sighed loudly, "I cried myself to sleep the night I finished- I think we both need some Kanye to cheer us up."

Cath immediately perked up. Emergency Kanye Party- _genius_. Wren was always good at cheering up her sister, and vice versa. It didn't take very long for Wren to get to her feet and find Cath's beat-up iPod attached to oversized, purple speakers. She chose the appropriate playlist and Kanye West's rapping filled the room. They danced and sang and screamed at the top of their lungs for what felt like hours. In reality, they had only danced through four songs.

That's exactly how many songs they got through before Levi showed up again. He didn't wait outside the door either, he just walked right in. "I got back earlier than I anticipated, but I still missed the dance party, huh?" He laughed," I could hear Kanye on the other side of campus."

Cath grinned. Her mood had changed greatly, "You didn't miss it! Come dance with us," She squealed.

"I have hot drinks in my hands," Levi laughed, "I'll be with you in a second." He set the drinks down on Cath's desk and then frowned, "Wren, you should take my drink...if I had known, I would have gotten you your own. Are you alright with my order?"

Wren shook her head, "That's really nice of you, Levi...but I'll pass. Thank you, though." She practically had to yell to be heard over the music.

Levi smiled at her, then got on top of one of the bed's next to Cath and took her hands in his. They danced like that for a few songs before Wren started to feel weird and probably a bit third-wheeled and left. She claimed that there were no hard feelings, but Cath really didn't know.

The two both stopped dancing to get their drinks, Cath turned off the music so they could have a normal conversation.

"Are you better now?" Levi asked, sipping his weird coffee that Cath had tried once and hated. He liked it though- and it smelled nice. Coffee was weird like that. It smelled amazing, but didn't always taste that way. It was such a comforting, familiar smell now. It had gotten to the point where any whiff of coffee reminded Cath of Levi. The summer was going to be really hard on her because she was certain she'd smell the stuff everywhere.

"Much," Cath replied, swiping some whipped cream off the top of her cup and popping it in her mouth. Levi smiled at her. She always did that before she drank her order and he always told her how cute he thought it was.

"I don't want to be away from you this summer," Levi said in dismay.

"I don't want to be away from you either," Cath replied, equally as distressed as Levi,"But I might have to be. My dad has this crazy idea for all of us to go on these crazy vacations and I have no interest. I know I said I'd try to visit you- and I still will. I've just gotten new information since then and I don't know if I can swing both..."

"I understand," Levi answered, "I'm just going to miss you so much."

Later that evening, the two were cuddling. This had become pretty routine for them since the night Cath first went to Levi's house. Cath was on Levi's lap with her head against his chest. She could hear- almost feel- his steady heartbeat. She played with the buttons on his shirt absently. Neither of them spoke. They just enjoyed eachother's company.

Levi's right hand rested on Cath's thigh and she wasn't at all freaked out by that. His other hand was cradled around her shoulder, keeping her close to his body.

"Take off your shirt," She told him suddenly.

He laughed in disbelief. "Excuse me?"

"Just...unbutton it," She instructed.

He obeyed her wishes, slowly but surely unbuttoning his shirt. Cath repositioned herself so that she had a better view. He was amused by how interested she was. She placed her hands over his collarbones and kissed him. "I love you everywhere," She whispered.

Levi pulled the shirt off his body completely, and then handed it to her all balled up, "You should have this. You know, to remember me by this summer," He chuckled, shaking his head, "You seem to like it a lot, granted, I think you like it even more when I take it off."

Cath shrugged, and accepted the gift, "Thank you...but you can't possibly be planning on driving back to your place without a shirt on?"

Levi ran his fingers through his hair, "I've got a coat, I'll put it on and no one will be the wiser." Cath giggled at this. Levi kissed her forehead, "Is that your way of kicking me out, Sweetheart?"

Cath shook her head frantically, "No, please...stay as long as you want to."


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Sorry this took for-freaking-ever. Blame it on a combination of writer's block and being super busy! I'll try and be more diligent with updates from now on**

Cath struggled with a heavy box full of Levi's belongings, but she tried not to let it show. She followed close behind him to his car and tried to supress as many disgruntled noises as possible. He had three times the load she did and he acted like it was nothing. His body wasn't hunched over from the weight of the boxes and suitcases, nor were any frustrated sounds escaping his lips. Cath wondered how he did it. She wondered why she couldn't.

When they reached Levi's truck, she placed the box in her arms in the bed and dusted off her hands. She was almost startled when Levi spoke to her. They hadn't actually talked for fifteen minutes, just packed and moved stuff into the truck. "Are you alright?" He asked. Cath assumed that her face must have been very flushed. Levi of course would notice such things. "You don't have to help me, you know? I mean, I definitely appreciate it, but you look like you could collapse," Levi chuckled. He put a comforting hand on her shoulder though Cath felt like she was mocking him in some form.

"I can do it," Cath insisted. She sounded like a stubborn five year old who was trying to prove that she was a big kid now and she hated that. She swallowed hard. "I can't help that you're so much stronger than me or that you make me look like a weakling by comparison!" Levi just kept patting her shoulder and she felt very disgruntled. She wanted to run up to the very top of the house he lived in, into his room, and grab the heaviest remaining suitcase there and bring it down for him. He couldn't laugh then.

"Cather, I don't mean to make you feel bad. I'm not trying to show off or anything. I'm sorry," Levi said as he looked her directly in the eyes. He got a stupid grin on his face all of a sudden, "And I promise I will not show off unless you're into that sort of thing- a guy that can do a lot of heavy-lifting?" Cath bit her lip as her knees went all wobbly. His voice was oozing with flirtation. If they weren't out in public, she would have made out him right then and there.

The threat of people seeing didn't stop Levi. He grabbed her waist and pulled her closer to his body and kissed her. The truck's horn honked obnoxiously and broke the two apart after a few short seconds. They had completely forgotten about Reagan, who was sitting inside. She was probably bored to tears and this show was more than likely not helping her. "There are rules," She shouted at them, reminding Cath for the millionth time about the guidelines she had given Cath for dating her ex.

"Sorry," Cath called back. Levi gave her a quick peck before releasing her from his grip. He looked sad to have to let her go. Cath was sure that he would have held on forever if he could have. Today, he and Reagan were going back to Arnold. Tomorrow, Wren and Cath would go back to Omaha. They wouldn't see eachother for a long time. The two wanted to get together over the summer, but Cath's dad had crazy vacation plans for the whole family. A reunion didn't seem altogether too likely. Not until the fall, anyway.

Levi caressed my cheek with his thumb, "No need to apologize, Cather," He whispered, "That was entirely my fault." Then he turned back to where Reagan was and said sorry to her and she just groaned and turned up whatever music she was listening to. Cath had never heard it before and it involved a lot of screaming and frantic drumming. She was just happy that Reagan wasn't listening to sappy heartbreak songs that would indicate that she was…well,_ heartbroken_ with the whole Cath dating her ex-boyfriend thing. Cath still wondered just how okay with it she was. She felt like Reagan was being way too nice about it for it to be genuine. If, for example, Wren dated Levi if Cath ever broke up with him, Cath would feel beyond betrayed.

After a couple more trips up and down the many stairs in Levi's house, Cath started to grow weary. "How much stuff do you have?" She asked. The words came out whinier than she meant them to. Levi just laughed and kissed Cath's forehead. He was hot and sweaty, but she didn't care- so was she. The two had had so much contact since they started moving Levi's stuff out to his car that she didn't exactly know if it was her sweat or her boyfriend's. It was actually pretty gross.

Levi took her hand in his, "You sound exhausted, lucky for you, we're all done." It was supposed to cheer Cath up, but she looked as if she was about to cry instead, "Whoa, sweetheart, what's wrong? I thought you were happy? I'm sorry I made you upset," Levi started to ramble quite worriedly and Cath just grabbed his hands tightly.

"If you're done, that means you have to leave," She whispered sadly, "I'm not ready for you to go yet." A look of understanding crossed Levi's face. He pecked Cath on the forehead, hoping Reagan wouldn't notice. She must not have because she didn't say anything. She must have been too into her music to notice anything else.

"That's the one thing that bugged me about her when we dated," Levi said half-heartedly. "Her taste in music has always been terrible. That and she cheated on me a lot." It was a desperate attempt to change the subject. It was an uncomfortable one to change it to, though. It also didn't distract from the situation at hand. Cath and Levi were going to part ways and there was nothing they could do about it.

Cath shrugged, "have fun with that on the way home, then," She joked. Her face didn't at all read light-hearted, though. She hugged Levi tightly. He was quick to hug back and pick her up off the ground in doing so. It felt weird and wonderful. Cath had always had wide hips and big thighs and never really of herself as the type of person guys would sweep of her feet- literally. She was happy Levi was able to prove her wrong and make her feel girly and like a love interest in a cheesy romance novel book before he left.

"I'm going to miss you so much," He told her, even though she already knew.

"I'm going to miss you too," Cath replied, although he already knew that too, "Call me when you get home."

"I will, sweetheart," He said as he walked toward the door of the driver's side of his truck, opened it, and got in.

Surprising everyone, Reagan got out of the truck and hugged Cath. "See you around, roomie." It was the most sentimental thing she could manage. It was sweet.

And then Levi and Reagan were off. Cath expected to break down, but she didn't. She just called her sister for emotional support. Wren picked up after the first ring.

"They're gone," Cath said miserably, but she still did not cry.

Wren was always one to cheer her sister up thus Cath's call. This time was no different. "Aw Cath, I'm so sorry. You'll see him again soon! If you don't see him over the summer, you'll at least see him in three months. It's not that long. And you can always Skype and call each other and stuff."

Cath sighed, "I guess."

Wren continued and Cath could hear the smile in her voice, "Now you can finish _Carry On_. Your adoring fans are waiting somewhat impatiently."


End file.
